Feelings of a Falling Snowflake
by ReavesTheReader
Summary: Snow in her name, pure white and cold. Ice is the same, but not as bold. Her heart that's frozen should also thaw. Just a normal girl, as you saw. Her words are harsh, without a doubt. Insults and curses aren't strangers to her mouth. Yet her eyes that should've been cold, Always felt alone, thrice to tenfold. No more rhymes. I need to know Whether my heart can thaw her snow.
1. Prologue: Prisoner of Loneliness

'Where am I…?' is the first thing I tried to ask. But my voice wouldn't come out no matter how hard I tried. I softly opened my eyes but fail to recognize where I am. All I could see was my pure white skin surrounded by black and my silvery hair as it flowed freely around my head. It's dark… And cold… And quiet.

'What am I doing here…?' came next. I was falling…? No… I was floating. I hugged my knees as I curled up into a ball. There was no feeling of water. I didn't get dizzy as I rolled in midair.

'What happened…?' My voice still failed me. Even if I could, there was no one to answer me either.

'What was the last thing I remember…?'

NNNGGG−!

A sharp pain shot through my head… No… That's wrong… It wasn't my head that was in pain.

It was my heart.

Again, I tried to remember. It hurts…

It hurts…

It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.

The pain jolted through me repeatedly.

…

…

'Why does it hurt…?' Because I didn't want to remember.

'Why don't I want to remember…?' Because it hurts.

…

…

My thoughts were going in circles.

I won't get anywhere like this.

If only 'he' was here…

Wait…

'Who was 'he'…?'

NNNGGG−!

It hurts again…

Again…?

Does that mean 'he' is the reason why I'm hurting…?!

'Remember!'

NNNGGG−!

I open my mouth to scream in pain, but my voice doesn't even make a sound.

'Remember!'

NNNGGG−!

I know I must remember. But it hurts so bad.

'That doesn't matter! Remember!'

NNNGGG−!

With my eyes closed, I struggled and squirmed in the vast, empty space as I searched through my memories. Noise clouds my recollections. Static ripples through my vision. But I ignore it. I ignore all of it. A feeling within me told me that I knew what I was looking for. I just had to remember 'him'.

Crack

Suddenly, a crack appeared in the sky above me. Light poured in through it like rays of hope in the darkness. But it didn't feel enough. Again, I dove into my memories.

Crack

The more I tried to remember, the more the cracks spread.

Crack Crack

CRACK

Shards of glass… No… Ice fell around me. Reflected on their mirror-like surfaces were familiar images. Their angles were weird. The images looked like they were taken in someone's point of view, like they were snap-shots of what a person would see as they lived their normal lives.

Here and there, the shards fell around me. Images of familiar faces and places I ignored but a few seemed to level with me. It was as if the shards were trying to show me something. Several of them surrounded me and formed a jagged circle while slowly spinning.

All of them featured a familiar boy.

His smile was natural, but he looked goofy. He looked handsome, but his hair was a mess. His eyes weren't perfect, but they were kind nonetheless.

A single name comes to mind… and suddenly, all my memories began rushing into my head.

I ignore all the distant ones and began shuffling through the most recent ones. I had a feeling that I needed to look. My heart ached at the sight of his face. I was anxious. I was worried. Something happened that I had forgotten… No… that I had forcibly erased from my memories.

'What happened? What made me want to forget?'

I found it.

The shards that surrounded me stopped their rotation and changed images. Now it was like I was watching a scene out of a movie in multiple screens but without any sound.

I saw his tired form. He was breathing heavily as he held out a hand. He was smiling as if he'd won. I must've been slightly bitter about losing because it took a while before a hand I'd recognize anywhere took his. He pulled me up and brought me to his chest. I looked up into his kind blue eyes and remembered that I was blushing then. He mouthed a few words that I could roughly make out.

'Don't break our promise now, kay?'

I lightly punched his chest before I used it to rest my head. Then the view began to pan out around our surroundings. I remembered that I had noticed the crowds cheering the fight and I also remembered turning even redder when they started to cheer us on after the fight. I'm now blushing even more than how I was before. He was blushing as well, now that the view returned to him as he spoke something. He must've said something rude because I pushed away from him and turned to leave.

But before making it three steps away, I notice a glint of light to my right. Just as I turned to face it, he jumps in front of it with his arms spread out. His body crashes onto the ground while I stood there, confused. I ran to his side. As I turned his body face-up, my hands were shaking in fear. I froze at the sight of his wound. A single black arrow protruding from his chest, right above the area where his heart should've been. My gaze shifted to his expressionless face. His eyes were wide open in shock. His mouth had a trickle of blood oozing out.

I remembered what I forgot…

No…

I remembered why I forgot…

It was because…

'He died…'

Then… everything turned white…

The shard-screens all flashed and vanished into nothing. The light that poured from the cracks above my head began to surround me. Spilling into the void, the light swallowed darkness and turned it into pure white.

It was still cold. It was still quiet.

But now, everything was white.

…

…

…

…

…

…

I curled into a ball once more…

…

This place isn't any better than before…

…

Now that I noticed it, my chest was burning in pain…

…

I remembered everything, so my heart stung, again and again…

…

This white cold world was much, much worse…

…

Like an icy cage or a frozen curse…

…

At times like this, should I ask, 'What should've I done'?

…

No… Something more impossible…

…

"Please… Please save me, Jaune…"


	2. Chapter 1: A Different Choice

"Oh, come on..."

"..."

Three knocks sounded on the other side of the door.

"Open the door..."

"..."

Three more knocks came, but only silence replied.

"... … I promise not to sing..."

"..."

Relenting with a sigh, the door was opened. Standing outside the hallway, a messy-haired blonde in a thick hoodie shirt, patched-up, torn blue jeans and cheap-looking armor had a guitar in his hands and an apologetic look on his face.

"What is it this time, Arc?"

Asking in a cold tone, a silver-haired beauty gave the boy an intense glare. The frosty expression she wore befitted her title of the 'Ice Queen'.

"I, uh... Ahem... I ca-came here to ask you out to the da–"

"No."

Not letting him finish, the ice-cold heiress threw him a rejection and started to close the door.

"Wai–OW!"

"What are you doing, you dunce?!"

"Please! Just hear me out!"

Putting his foot in before the door was completely closed shut, Jaune Arc winced in pain as Weiss Schnee tried to kick his foot out.

"OW! Could you please–AH! Not the toes!"

"Get out!"

"Just give me a chance!"

"Weiss, can't you just give the guy a chance?"

"Whose side are you on?!"

"Uh... No one's?"

Hearing Yang's answer, Weiss stopped her kicking and opened the door once more. Limping on one leg, Jaune tried to straighten up before wincing in pain as he put too much weight on the hurting foot. Seeing Weiss' give him a cold look again as she opened the door, he made a nervous smile.

"Does this uhm... mean you'll give me a chance?"

"...No."

And with that, she slammed the door on him. This time, he didn't have time to respond nor did he want to risk getting another limb pummeled by the heiress.

"Haaah..."

Accepting her rejection, Jaune limped off. He felt defeated. All she did was answer and yet he felt like he lost the war before it even started. He expected it to happen. No, he knew that this was what would happen. It didn't matter how many times he tried. Her answer was obviously always going to be no.

"Ah!"

He fell on a knee. Checking his foot for injury, he stopped and just stood back up instead. His foot wasn't that badly injured. But his heart was. He was frustrated. Not wanting to go back in the dorm, he continued down the hall. Arriving at the stairs, he absentmindedly descended the flights instead of going up to the usual rooftop where Pyrrha was waiting for him.

"Haaah..."

Sighing once more, he decided to go outside. There were still a few hours before lights out. A short walk under the moonlight wouldn't hurt anyone.

Especially since he was already hurt a little on the inside.

"You see, that is why people call you Ice Queen."

"Oh, so now it's my fault?"

"I'm just sayin'. You won't even try giving him a chance."

"All my life, boys have only cared about the perks of my last name. I already know what he's after, so I refuse to give him the time of day just to waste my time."

Sitting on her bed, Weiss filed her nails while Yang, sitting opposite her, gave a very concerned look.

"You reaaaally need to fix that bad habit of yours."

"What 'bad habit' are you referring to? I have no such habits."

"She means that 'being a jerk' habit you have."

Ruby peeped her head from the bunk up top. Although glared at by Weiss, the little red continued.

"Weiss, he just tried asking you out to the dance. You don't have to assume that he wants your money. Maybe, he just wants to hang out with you more."

"It's not an assumption. It's a logical deduction. This isn't the first time that someone has asked to escort me with ulterior motives. Those boys always have that look in their eyes when they say they want to, as you put it, "hang out more" and I can guarantee it that he won't be the last."

Facepalming in disbelief, Yang sighed for the poor boy after hearing the princess' misinterpretation.

"What 'look' did you see him give you? And even if he wanted your money, he wouldn't be this clumsy about asking you out, y'know?"

"Yeah, Jaune's pretty nice. Even if he's not the smartest guy at Beacon, he's not the kind who'd try to get close to you for stupid reasons like money."

Chiming in, Ruby offered her honest opinion while swinging her legs above the heiress' head. Weiss, clearly not pleased with the double-teaming by the sisters, put away her cleaning tools before letting out a sigh.

"Just how can either of you two be so sure that he's the 'nice guy' you claim he is? What proof do you have that he doesn't have any ulterior motives?"

The pair of sisters glanced at each other at the heiress' question. It was clear to them both that, in addition to being difficult with people she never got along with, Weiss was almost as blind as a bat to the kindness of others. Though, with the siblings' advice, she tries to loosen up occasionally, she always reverted to 'Ice Queen Mode' at the end of the day or when she was stressed. But every time it involved Jaune, no matter what, she always ends up being colder than usual.

"He's uh… well, um, he doesn't like the way Yang pranks others for fun?"

"No one likes the way Yang pranks others for fun. It's barbaric for everyone."

"Hey!"

Yang threw a pillow towards Ruby for getting her caught in friendly fire. Ruby caught it with a smirk and continued.

"Well, there's the fact that he doesn't really care who's a Faunus or not. He was cool with the Faunus students and even with Blake when we told them about her. He was even ok with her being a former White Fang."

"Yeah, he didn't react as badly as you did when you found out."

"Hey! I'll have you know that the Fang probably caused more trouble for my family than they did for his."

"Trouble or not, you still considered turning a teammate over to the police before anything else."

Crossing her arms in annoyance, Weiss turned her gaze out the window. Yang's immediate reply must've stung a bit. It was true that Weiss had already come to terms with Blake's past and that she was trying her best to be a better friend. But her past reaction might've left a twinge of guilt in the heiress for putting Blake on the spot.

Speaking of which, Jaune had been considerate of Blake ever since they told him and his teammates, supportive even. Meanwhile, Weiss had chosen to condemn her first before even hearing her out.

"He's also kind to people who bully him too. You remember the time he saved Cardin's butt from that Ursa Major, don't you?"

"He did what, now?"

"You dunce, Pyrrha told us to keep it a secret."

"Oops!"

Shocked, the little red covered her mouth with both hands while her sister humped her and tried to open them. Though Ruby tried to convince Weiss of Jaune's kind side by reminding her of the actions he took to save a bully, blurting out a secret wasn't part of her plan at all, it seems. Well, she might've just forgotten that Yang was the only one in the room that didn't know of it.

But going back to Ruby's point, yeah, Jaune was kind enough to protect someone who bullied him. Contrary to how they used to interact just a few days prior to the incident, Winchester had hardly pestered anyone, Jaune included, ever since. Maybe his eyes were opened when he was saved by someone he considered weaker than himself. But, whatever it is, it speaks volumes of Jaune's bravery and kindheartedness.

Now, as she was thinking this, her gaze out the window allowed her to notice something, specifically, someone.

Jaune was taking a stroll outside. It was still quite a while before curfew, so it wasn't just him out on campus grounds. He seemed fine as he greeted his passing fellow classmates. But the air around him was depressing. Even though he seemed approachable enough, he seemed to just wave back in reply with a sad smile on his face.

Slightly squinting, Weiss noticed he had a slight limp in his step. Most likely the foot she had hurt earlier. It might've been hurt badly. From this distance, she couldn't tell. But after a while, Jaune had taken a seat on a nearby bench with his head down.

He stayed like that for a while. And all the while, Weiss stared at him, studying him. She couldn't find it. The pompous air, the scheming look, not even a self-comforting overconfident expression. Not one of the factors she saw in her past suitors was present in Jaune. Only his frustration from being rejected. Rejected by her.

In that moment, she remembered something. It was a memory, a scene from long ago. One where a child stared at herself before a mirror.

It was supposed to be a special day for the young girl, and yet, not even a smile was present on that beautiful face. Only a sad expression. What could've been the cause?

Ah. She remembered.

It was the day her father rejected their family. The day he admitted that his feelings for their family were all a façade.

Before she could think about any of it all, of why she remembered it now, after all these years, she made her decision.

"Fine. I'll give him a chance."

Turning to face the sibling pair, she found Ruby struggling to cover her mouth while Yang fought back to uncover more juicy secrets. When they heard her words, however, they fell apart. Literally. On the floor with arms and legs sprawled all over.

"What? Is it that much of a surprise?"

"No, no! It's a good surprise! But, y'know?"

"What made you change your mind?"

Saying what needed to be said, Yang pat her sister's head. Both had already expected Weiss to just brush them aside before the scolding began. Having her hear them out was a surprise so the sudden 180 was enough to raise both their eyebrows.

"It's… nothing. I just thought I'd give him a chance before I… before I start making assumptions again."

""…""

Yang and Ruby stared back in silence. The next second later, both had huddled up in the corner of the room farthest from Weiss.

"What do we do? You think she hit her head?"

"Maybe she's been skipping on sleep? Like Blake has?"

"But what if it's worse? She could have a percussion!"

"It's 'concussion', Rubes."

"You two both know I can clearly hear you, right?"

Instead of getting angry, Weiss chose to snap back. When she was ignored, she took one more look back outside. Jaune had already disappeared. At some point, he must've up and left before she noticed.

Well, it didn't really matter. She got up and headed towards the door whilst ignoring the two who were (loudly) whispering to each other in the corner of the room.

"Uh, Weiss, where're you going?"

"Don't tell me! You're going to chase after Jaune right this instant to tell him you were wrong?! Atta' boy, I mean, girl!"

"Ooooh! Wait! That's bad! It's getting late. If Goodwitch catches you, it'll be bad, for both of you."

Once again, today, Weiss let out a sigh. It was nice that they were both concerned for her like they were for Blake, but sometimes, they took their assumptions too far that it caused the heiress a migraine.

"I'm not going to find Jaune today. I'll do it tomorrow."

"Then, what's up?"

"I was just going to have a word with Professor Goodwitch. I need to have her check the list of approved equipment for the party."

With that, she closed the door behind her, leaving the red-yellow sisters alone in the room.

"Oh, I hope it goes well."

"What's got your skirt in ruffles?"

"My skirt is not made of ruffles. They're made of frills!"

"I meant "what's worrying you", Rubes."

Ruby, the bundle of energy she was, sat down quietly with a worried expression on Weiss' bed. Without its owner present, Yang sat in Blakes to face her sister.

"I'm worried about Jaune. If Weiss says she'll give him a chance, I'll believe her. But what if she doesn't take Jaune seriously or if she messes up? Jaune could get hurt even more than what happened a while ago. Then, there's Blake too. I know finding a lead is important for her, but if she doesn't relax just for a bit... Sun's worried about her. We're worried for her. What if she tires herself out before we're able to talk to her about it?"

Yang didn't answer back. Instead, she smiled. Despite being the youngest of them all, it was clear that Ruby was the most concerned when it came to their friends. Seeing the maturity in Ruby's words, she couldn't stop herself from jumping at her and trapping her pride and joy in her generous bosom.

"Oh, look at you, acting all grown up!"

"Yang, stahp it! I'm seriously worried here!" (why stahp when you can enjoy it juuuust a bit more? ;3)

Trapped in the voluptuous mounds, Ruby could only cry out her frustration.

"Don't worry your little head on those things."

While ruffling her hair until little sis stopped struggling, Yang's caring tone conveyed her true feelings on the matter. She already planned on having a word with Blake. If Weiss was going to mess up, she also planned on helping Ruby figure it out.

"But… but−!"

"If it comes to that, we'll have a word with her together. As a team."

She was the older sister. She had always been the older sister. Yang felt that such things were naturally her problem to solve. As a member of this team, she had to be the mature one to hold them together. Ruby was her leader. And her leader needed help. Obviously, Yang supporting her little sis was par for the course.

"Besides, what're older siblings for."

 ** _AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yooo! Happy New Year and Merry Christmas. A good Hanukkah to you, or whatever greetings you guys use this time of year. Anyways, hello again._**

 ** _Again, I can only bow my head to apologize for not updating a smidge of the other story I have. Having made the mistake of showing my writing to a family member, I was hit with a slump and wallowed in depression for a while. That's excuse number 1._**

 ** _Number two is the reality of college. Thesis season, which I took for granted, assaulted me with even more papers and projects than I expected. If not for the pure BS instructions given to me by my designated advisor, I probably would've gotten past this term with a more, motivated atmosphere._**

 ** _Finally, the third. Yes, I have more reasons for the delays. I was trying to study other people's writing methods. No, I did not study Hemingway. No, not J.K. Rowling or Tolkien either. I decided to sift through web novels. Yep. Instead of the professionally written, well-edited, best-selling slabs of paper they sell for 30 bucks apiece in the bookstore, I studied the handwritten, spur-of-the-moment stories made by amateur authors they put up for free on the internet._**

 ** _Due to all of that, I couldn't make any progress with the Arc of Team AMBR revisions. So, with all my energy spent on getting out of the slump, and with what little vacation time I was given, I created and present to all of you Chapter 1 of my second story._**

 ** _When I checked the poll I set up over half a year ago, I expected at least one of you to vote for the green light of my JauneXWeiss fanfic. But I never expected MOST of you to do it though so I was partially in shock. Thanks for that. XD The poll will remain open for now or until I have a make a new one so go ahead and vote if you want._**

 ** _Now, enough about me and my crap. About this story. Take the one-shot chapter as a foreshadowing cuz it might as well be the basis for my starting this in the first place. Chapter one takes place directly after Blake walks out on Team RWBY's advice to chill. I decided to start here instead of pre-Pilot episode so as to create a diverging storyline. You guys know the multiverse theory, parallel-worlds-mumbo-jumbo stuff, right? If not, it's basically the "world that could've been" that was born out of the "what-if philosophy"._**

 ** _So, instead of having Weiss thirsty for our local aquaphobe Neptune, she tries to consider the possibility of being a bit 'nicer' to Jaune, who she has been treating like a dung beetle since they first met. Pretty average plot, you may point out. But hey, it's better than suddenly the "they were childhood sweethearts the whole time and Jaune's sudden separation from her caused Weiss to be cold and harsh to every blonde or boy or blonde boy she meets" plot. God knows how much that backstory has been overused to oblivion._**

 ** _Comes without saying, even though it may be a deviation from the original timeline, I'm still going to arrange it so that some canon events remain or are changed accordingly. I really enjoyed RWBY canon's plot (minus the character deaths) so please expect more on that later. XD_**

 ** _Well, I've taken too much of your time just with the Notes already. I bid you all adieu and a happy new year. May you all have a fun time before, during and after reading this (tho there may not be a point if this phrase is put at the end). Goodbye and pelt me with reviews. I don't know how bad I write these things and I don't think having someone I know tell me I'm bad will actually help at all. I'd rather have a complete stranger do that, thank you very much. Buh-bye XD!_**


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